I would like that Money!!!

[Flog]

I was just noticing that it took 165 million dollars to make the recent "Polar Express" aka "Children of the Corn Go on a Train Trip" or "Zombie Express"

 

Now just thinking ahead I feel that movie opening weekend will gross 12 million tops this opening weekend.

 

I hope they prove me wrong. But really do you think it will do that well. I always wondered where people get there funding to make these things?

 

Can you only imagine taking 165 million and splitting it on this website among 20 or 30 small groups. How many movies of similiar quality could be made.

 

I mean seriously I wish we had a large animation fund where we could split it up. If only Hollywood would take a smaller risk and give the money to those like us on this forum to make a film

 

What could you do with 1-5 million dollars in 4 years?

 

Seriously it seems the more technology there is the more expensive things get. I thought 3d would be cheaper. How does Hollywood explain these prices? Oh well, just a thought wishing they would give me 1 peice of that million and see what we could do.

 

That would be awesome. Take 10 of the best HASH users, pay them 100,000 each and give them 1 year and I bet they could match this easily.

 

Just my rant

 

12 million is my guess on opening weekend 39 million through it's stay at the box office.

 

My second guess is 20 million and overall box office 52. Don't ask me how or why I think this but let us see how close.

 

ADMIN I put this in the wrong forum, can you put it over to the general

[starwarsguy]

I think it will do great. Everyone remembers the book from their childhood and will want to see it on film. Not to mention that the animation looks great!

 

(PIXAR IS STILL 1,000,000,000x BETTER!!!)

[Fuchur]

I think much money was spent to develope the new facial-animation-mocap-technology they use in this film...

 

*Fuchur*

[D.Joseph Design]

(PIXAR IS STILL 1,000,000,000x BETTER!!!)

 

Oh yeah! I'm financially benefiting from their betterness today. PIXR up $6.57 to $86.51 today. Really quite good considering an average purchase of $64.

 

Viva Pixar!

[smudge]

I was just noticing that it took 165 million dollars to make the recent "Polar Express" aka "Children of the Corn Go on a Train Trip" or "Zombie Express"

 

Yes, and how much of that was promotion (ala marketing) and how much of that was legal (a lot more than you would think), or to "name" actors so that they can have something to market the film with?

 

Zombie Express? Oh, that's a good one. Apparently, they hadn't read Dave's rant on the Uncanny Valley did they?

 

But there is hope. While it's mostly traditional (with some CG elements), The Triplets of Belleville (or Belleville Rendez-vous as it's known in the UK) proved that; 800,000 Euros to make (just shy of one million US), they ended up with 2 Oscar nominations and A Cannes Film Selection 2003. They've made their money several times over now.

[Flog]

Exactly!!!

 

We just need to find contacts who'll put 50,000 to a 1 million into us and we could definately get something done and pay for itself in no time.

 

Anyone have some contacts we can get this thing started. I've already gotten prices, I have 200,000 and I can get my film the way I want it done completely, quality and everything. Amount of characters and the full 90 minutes. Someone throw me a bone, lol.

 

I'm going to do like Sam Raimi did when making Army of Darkness or the pre-movie to that one. He just sent out mail to all the rich folks in the area looking for funding. .....

 

Hmmm if they will throw 165,000 at Zemekis for this, hmmmm?

[luckbat]

I'm going to do like Sam Raimi did when making Army of Darkness or the pre-movie to that one. He just sent out mail to all the rich folks in the area looking for funding.

 

Hang on--are you saying you're going to base your ambitions on the making of a film whose name you don't actually know?

 

Seriously, though, I support indie filmmaking 100%, but Raimi did a lot more than just send out mail. First of all, he and his friends actually filmed a short version of The Evil Dead to show to prospective investors, with whom they met personally. Second, they were pitching a low-budget horror movie in 1980. At that time, with the proliferation of VCRs and video rental stores, low-budget horror movies were like a license to print money. That's why there were so many of them back then.

 

A guy with a spare million dollars lying around is only going to invest in "movie X" once you convince him that:

• "Movie X" can be made for a million dollars.
  
• "Movie X" will generate more than a million dollars in revenue.
  
• "Movie X" can be made by you.
  

It's as simple as that. It helps if you're friends with a bunch of millionaires, but that's a whole other topic.

[Rodney]

...and people say I'm optimistic! hehe...

[Flog]

Hang on--are you saying you're going to base your ambitions on the making of a film whose name you don't actually know?

 

Seriously, though, I support indie filmmaking 100%, but Raimi did a lot more than just send out mail. First of all, he and his friends actually filmed a short version of The Evil Dead to show to prospective investors, with whom they met personally. Second, they were pitching a low-budget horror movie in 1980. At that time, with the proliferation of VCRs and video rental stores, low-budget horror movies were like a license to print money. That's why there were so many of them back then.

 

A guy with a spare million dollars lying around is only going to invest in "movie X" once you convince him that:

"Movie X" can be made for a million dollars.

"Movie X" will generate more than a million dollars in revenue.

"Movie X" can be made by you.

 

It's as simple as that. It helps if you're friends with a bunch of millionaires, but that's a whole other topic.

 

I was being lazy and just writing in generals and using an example. I know what went into making a movie, but in a nutshell he did in fact do that. WE don't have to go into specifics and details on everything, it was just a quick thought

[cfree68f]

Saw Polar Express... Loved it. Thought IMHO that it was better than the incredibles. I loved the look of the Incredibles.. but the story wasnt all that. Polar Express is a great story. Sure the plot is old.. but the telling of it is original.

 

You come up with an original story that can be made into a good 120 minute movie and you will find funding eventually. If you look hard enough. The real test anymore is whether or not you can make something else besides a movie. A game, action figures, books, or in the case of the current movie... a bell. Think about how many 5 dollar silver bells could be sold this Christmas to try to convince kids that Santa came to their house to get them to believe.

 

Plenty of people make bad movies... too many people go to the movies and get caught up in visible polygons, or bad motion, all the while missing a wonderfull story, great cinematography, and a genuinely good time.

 

My advice... read a good book or two... write a good story. Go sell that. Where it goes from there? who knows.

 

C

[MarkusAralius382]

Probably half of the 165 million dollars went to Tom Hanks.

[Flog]

I'm sure Polar Express is good. However it is a case of spending way to much money on something that could have been done on 1/4th the cost. I mean that is absurd, and when movies like this flop, it makes investors even more careful.

 

I just think the budget was ridiculous. It has already flopped at box office. I mean $270 million budget on this film. Seriously that is just a shame. How many CG films could have been made with that money. Whoever tossed out that much money I want to get a hold of them and ask for 10 million for my film. LOL. Any animators and artists want to split 10 million dollars 20 ways?

 

Casshern is a fully digital movie and cost 6 million US dollars to make. It has live actors and cost 6 million dollars in comparison to this cg movie that cost 270 million.

 

1 quarter of a billion dollars to make 1 movie. Yet some of the greatest movies of all time were made with a 35-75 million budget.

[nerrazzi]

I don't think you really need that kind of cash to make a great movie, just browse this forum and look at all the various talent. You can go through the WIP section and find the best animators, modelers, texture artists & lighting folks Hash has seen. Most of us can bring to mind at least two or three individuals who have proven over and over again how good they are at building people or just general characters and the same with animators.

 

What we lack is organization-- if someone perhaps at Hash assembled it's most talented users in all the main categories, along with a director who is vision-minded, and a excellent story... what more do you need? Get a distributor and sell it (DVD) along with a demo of A:M and there's your first million.

 

I think Steve Sappington got together with a few other folks and worked on some sort of duck detective movie, or maybe it was something else but I know it can be done without a millionaire funding the project from the beginning.

[ypoissant]

I think Steve Sappington got together with a few other folks and worked on some sort of duck detective movie, or maybe it was something else but I know it can be done without a millionaire funding the project from the beginning.

That was Boids of feater

[cfree68f]

I'm not saying that it wasnt idiotic to spend 270 million dollars on a movie that could have been made and marketed for half that. I'm only saying that it is that rarity of rarities a "good story". Not many movies contain those these days.

 

And as far as the money goes. think about this. They've spent 270 million and its flopped for now. How many more years will the world continue to celebrate Christmas? 10... 20... 30... 300... hmmm. Lets see show it every year on NBC.. primetime or even in the afternoon.. multiply by 300... drop the one.. multiply by polar express book sells.. yep... it still makes money.

 

Plenty of movies work on this formula. I still watch Peter Billingsly in "A Christmas Story" every year.. Heck.. I still watch its a wonderfull life every year. I doubt I'll be watching the Incredibles as much 20 years from now.

 

My point is that there is the short road to money and the long road. Sure Hollywood wants it now. and Polar Express will probably be considered a flop, unfortunately, but it'll still make out in the long run. The same couldn't be said for Final Fantasy, or many other cg movies.

 

thats my rant for now.

 

C

[robcat2075]

Whoever tossed out that much money I want to get a hold of them and ask for 10 million for my film. LOL. Any animators and artists want to split 10 million dollars 20 ways?

One investor, Steve Bing, provided half the money. I'm sure he felt it was a good investment based on the excellent prior track record of Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks. You might ring him up. He'll probably ask about your track record.

 

I went to see it in true stereoscopic 3D! It's not like that money just vaporized. It shows up on the screen. If you took a dozen of the best A:M artists and put them to work for a year they might come up with something of the complexity of a typical shot in Polar Express. Great. Now what about the other 999 shots?

 

Any animators and artists want to split 10 million dollars 20 ways?

There used to be an org that shovelled out money to small artists with no track record. It was called the National Endowment for the Arts. No blockbusters resulted.

 

Casshern is a fully digital movie and cost 6 million US dollars to make.

And how much did that gross in its US theatrical release?

 

Why is this thread still in "Showcase"?

[Flog]

Well we will have to see when Casshern gets here. I'm sure it grossed at least 6 million when opening up in Japan. Dreamworks has a hold of it now, so we'll have to see what they do with it.

 

I do think the money was vaporized. That film although great could have been done at 1/2-1/4th the cost and look just as good. Finding Nemo= 90 million production 40 million=marketing=130 million

 

Polar Express 270 million(production and marketing) WOW!!!

 

I remember hearing on Rush Hour 2 DVD Jackie Chan making fun of US movie making. He said he could have made 5 Chinese movies for the price of 1 of the set builds.

 

I am however working on my track record, and I guess I would like a ton of money thrown at me. LOL I'll use have and pocket the other half for my team and I. hehehe

 

Well I'm off to give this movie a shot!!! Polar Express here I come.

[sineater]

I haven't stuck my head out in a long time but here goes. Remember all the talk about how 2d must be dead because Disney couldn't seem to come up with anything creative enough to even interest kids? Then you see work by Japanese animators, like Ghost in the Machine, Metropolis (one of my all time favorites), Pinnochio 3000, Wonderful Days, any Miyazaki film and you just have too wonder how myopic we are to other cultures work. They don't spend the obscene money of hollywood to get these things made and it is about story and vision. When the software gets to the point where individuals can truly tell their stories that will be ----- good! Sineater

[smudge]

When the software gets to the point where individuals can truly tell their stories that will be ----- good!

 

That day's already here. Just run around the net a bit and check out all the films (animated or otherwise) that are being done by folks just like you and me.

 

The biggest problem is actually not the financing. Financing comes when you need it. The biggest limiter is Distribution. If you can't get a distributor, the best your film's gonna do is the inside of your living room and that of your friends, no matter how much money you've invested in the film. You don't need to have funding to get a distributor, you do need to have a distributor before you can get funding.

[Flog]

here here Sineater!!!

 

I think a problem with some films is they throw too much money at it, thinking it will make it better (ala Lucas)

 

But the heart of the film needs to be there, something no amount of money will be able fix. Zemekis has made some classic movies and with half the money. I don't know, it just seems that he threw money at something.

 

I am so happy though that us Indie animators do not need tons of money to make something beautiful. Less money but hopefully more heart.